23 Sodium Chloride Uses – Interactions – Side Effects

You might be familiar with sodium chloride more than any other chemical substance. It is used in our everyday life. From the delicious pizza we order when we’re too lazy cooking dinner, all the way to the fancy menu in fancy restaurants. They are all filled with this particular chemical substance, making the taste of our food more delicious and tasteful. But, the uses of this substance is actually more than that. We can use this chemical substance for our everyday life and it actually give us more benefits than just filling us up. There are many important facts about sodium chloride that we might not know, and we can find out now.

Sodium chloride (salt/halite) is an ionic compound. It has NaCi chemical formula and representing 1:1 ratio of chloride and sodium ions. This substance has 22.99 molar masses and 33.45 g.mol-1 . 1000 gram NaCi contains 390 gram Na and 610 gram Cl. A vast degree of sodium chloride could be found in ocean. This chemical substance is actually one substance that is responsible for the salinity of sea water.

When being dried, sodium chloride could crystallize and used as table salt by the majority of people. It is put into human’s food to give taste or flavor, as well as making it last longer. When being sprayed into fish or another food, sodium chloride can also act as food preservative. Usually, sodium chloride are used in industrial process (large quantities of them) and this is actually its major function in everyday life.

Other than that, it could also be used for de-icing roadways in freezing weather in the 4 seasons countries. Aside from this customary function and benefits that we knows, this particular chemical substance has another important facts that we should know. Indeed, there are many Sodium Chloride Uses in daily life. What are they?

Sodium Chloride Usage in Medical Treatments

When you are sick and trying to consult your disease to your doctor, they might prescribe you with medicine that contains this particular chemical substance. There are good amount of medication treatment that you might/might not know has a little bit of salt table in it. This is because when sodium chloride is mixed with water, it will create saline solution which has good effects on diseases. The saline solution that often use in medical treatments are:

IV DripsA drip (cannula/intravenous fluid) is a small and short plastic tube that’s put into vein using a needle. The tube is then left in so that the medicines and fluids can be transferred directly into the blood through the vein. Usually, this drips are used to patients that can’t proceed food at the times due to medical conditions. This particular tubes are uses for preventing dehydration for patients as well as treating electrolyte imbalances. Usually, this drips are mixed with sugar.

Saline Flush InjectionsSaline flush injections (also called sodium chloride injection) is a sterile, non pyrogenic for the replacements of fluid and electrolyte. Usually, it is packed in single dose container for intravenous penetration. The normal saline flush injection usually contains 0.9% saline, which is the normal degree of our liquid such as tears, blood, and other body fluids.

Nasal DropsSaline solution can be used as a nasal drops and this could results in the smoothness of our sinus. When babies get cold or flu, using nasal drops with saline solutions in it could help reduce swelling and alleviate congestion.

Cleaning WoundsWhen you have wounds that burns, using saline solutions could be a good choice. Clearing germs using a little bit of water and salt can actually effective. Just add a little bit of salt and water to your wounds and wash and rinse it up. This could sterilize your wounds and makes it ready for the next treatment.

Eyed DropsSaline solution contains 0.9% of sodium chlorine, which is the same amount of SD contains in tears or other body fluids. Thus, using saline solutions as your eye drops could be good because it has no dangerous effects. Using this drops in your eyes can treat eye redness, dryness and teary eyes.

Sodium Chloride InhalationYou could use sodium chloride inhalation to clear mucus so that it can clears out and gives you better clarity.

Our Body Needs Sodium Chloride to Function Properly

Good amount of sodium chloride intake could actually helps our bodily function. When taken at proper amount (no more than 2,3 milligrams per day), sodium chloride give massive benefits to our body. Indeed, there are many Sodium Chloride Uses in daily life, they are:

Sodium chloride can help absorb nutrients and transportation : Sodium can help your body absorb essentials substance such as sugar, water, chloride, and amino acids. This suggest that when we take a proper amount of sodium chloride, we help our own body to digest and absorb nutrients necessary.

Sodium chloride helps maintains resting energy : sodium and potassium is having important part on maintaining our resting energy. When taken at balance amount, these particles acts as electrolytes in the fluids outside and inside our cells.

Maintaining blood pressure and hydration : Your kidney, brain and adrenal glands work together to regulate sodium in the body. Chemical signals stimulate the kidney so it can absorb water into the bloodstream or get rid of residue water through the urine.

Sodium ≠ Salt

When we talk about sodium, usually we associate it with salt. It is the same particles in different names, right? Well, the answer is : not so much. The sodium that we usually found is actually natural sodium that occurs in the nature. They are natural minerals that you can find in natural stuffs such as beetles, celery or milk.

Salt, however, is different. Salt is the combination between sodium substances and chloride. Usually, the salt that we know consist of about sixty percent of chloride and forty percent of sodium. Sure, when we take proper amount of salt, it could do wonder to our body.

The amount of salt table we take everyday should be around 1,500 milligrams and not more than 2,300 milligrams (a teaspoon). The majority of sodium we consume are coming from sodium chloride, which is about 90%.

The other 10% is the sodium that we get from other substances such as baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)

However, when we take too much salt, it could do various harmful things to our body (which we will cover below).

Sodium Chloride Usage in Household

There are many benefits that we can take from sodium chloride, that is for sure. But there are also other tips and tricks you might not know about this substance. Check it out, as it might come in handy when you are having major household problems.

Cleaning your dirty utensilsWhen you feels so drown in work, usually cleaning your cup of coffee becomes forgotten. You then put it right there to be touch tomorrow or the day after. The problems lies when you are actually ready to clean it : you notice that the dark coffee stains won’t go away no matter how hard you rub it. Well, the trick is simple. You can mix water and a little bit of salt, leave it there in your cup for 30 minutes, and wash it away. This trick will do wonder in cleaning away all of your tough spots!

Cleaning Vegetables and fruitsYour grandmother gives you green veggies from her garden. Yes, those green, fresh veggies that could help your diet for sure. It’s dirty though, because your grandma take it from her garden out of love. What to do? Fear no more. Just grab a cup of water, mixes it with salt, and clean the veggies. You will find it much easier to clean those dirt in your food.

Cleaning spot of dirt in your houseThe carpet you bought last year that has dark spots in it could be cleaned almost instantly! Just spray generous amount of salt or baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) in your carpet, wait around an hour, and start vacuuming. The spot will be visibly gone in just a sec.

Melting ice It could be hard for you to even walk when you don’t even have any clue about the clarity of your pathway. Yes, winter can be tough and those ice are hard to rid. This could definitely disturb you and your productivity. An easy tips though : you can just spray big amount of salt to those ice and pouring hot water. You will find that the ice will melt right away, leaving you and your car been able to go to work peacefully.

The Danger of Having Too Much Sodium Chloride

According to the US Food and Drug Administration, having too much salt could actually harm your body. You should not take more than 2,300 milligrams sodium per day, or you will be expose for these various risks of having too much sodium.

Raising of Blood PressureWhen being consumed too much, sodium could make your blood pressure high and when your blood pressure is high in long period of time : this is not an okay news. You could getting expose to various health intrusion such as vascular scarring, blood clot, vascular weakness, etc.

Increase Your Risk to Kidney StonesWhen being consumed excessively, sodium can make your urine concentrated and increase the risk of you being vulnerable to kidney stones.

Increase Your Risk to StrokeA stroke could occurs when your blood vessels that supposed to transport nutrients to your brains being blocked/clocked. Excessive amount of salt won’t be good if you want to keep your transportation smooth.

Elevates Your Risk to OsteoporosisWhen you are having high salt intake, your urine could be loosing calcium and to compensate it, your body will take the calcium right from your bones. This is obviously dangerous for you and increases your risk to having osteoporosis, even in such young age.

Indeed, there are many Sodium Chloride Uses in daily life, and also there is cautions of using it too much. As a result, there are many chemicals compounds that analyzed to be so useful in human life.